


Blood and water, or: Family is the worst

by tinglingworld



Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: F/F, Family, Idiots in Love, It's 1994 or something like that, they're bad at feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 06:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17462300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinglingworld/pseuds/tinglingworld
Summary: “I really do love my family.”Debbie hadn’t moved an inch from her position at Lou’s neck when she spoke and so Lou looked down at her in her surprise.“But they make you miserable!”“Yeah- well. Family’s the worst”





	Blood and water, or: Family is the worst

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neighborhoodspaceman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neighborhoodspaceman/gifts).



> This is my gift for neighborhoodspaceman for the Ocean's 8 Winter Gift Exchange, who wished for Debbie x Lou with a happy end. I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> I was kind of idea-less for the longest time and then decided to browse some prompt lists on tumblr. The prompt this was based on was “Here, take my jacket.”-“I’m not cold.” and this is just where it led me. It's nothing special, but the idea kind of stuck with me and I think family is a subject everyone and especially these two has a lot of different and often conflicting feelings about.

“Here, take my jacket.”

“I’m not cold.”

The shiver that had Debbie’s shoulders shaking in that exact moment made Lou raise a mocking eyebrow at her. 

“Fine! Thank you!” Debbie huffed and took the jacket Lou offered to put it around her shoulders before turning away to look over the remnants of the bushes framing the property, now bare from the season.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lou questioned taking a step towards Debbie to run a hand down her back.

“Not really.”

“Do you want to come back inside?”

“Definitely not!” This time her answer was decisive.

“Okay,” Lou replied and kept rubbing Debbie’s back over the jacket. Debbie still didn’t face her, but she ever so slightly leaned into Lou’s touch and Lou would take that for the moment.

 

They stood silently, side by side for a while until eventually Debbie spoke.

“I hate him,” her words were quiet but measured.

“You don’t really though, do you?” Lou countered gently, stilling her hand on Debbie’s back. She could feel her take a deep breath before she deflated and let her head hang.

“No. Which is the entire fucking problem.”

“Family is the worst.”

That earned her a dry laugh from Debbie who finally turned to meet Lou’s eyes.

“How are you so calm?”

“I’m not,” Lou shrugged one shoulder and offered a half-grin, “I’m furious at your dad for saying what he did. But you don’t want me to go off on your family because we both know it wouldn’t end well if I did.”

Debbie rolled her eyes in annoyance and frustration.

“Yeah- no. I don’t want them to have any reason to think of you after you’ve left the room.”

“I also know that no matter what you pretend, what your father said actually hurt you.”

 

Debbie let her eyes fall shut for a second and turned away again to avoid Lou’s gaze.

“That’s bullshit. He’s just- a fucking asshole,” she stated but it sounded a lot less convincing than was probably intended.

“Yeah. Right. That’s why you’ve been standing here outside in the cold for the past 30 minutes.” 

“Pff!” Debbie made indignantly and stepped away from Lou, “If you too only want to make accusations then do me a favor and just leave. I really don’t need more of those.”

“Deb, I’m not making any accusations,” Lou responded as apologetically as she could,  “I’m just saying that you’re human, too. And sometimes that means we get hurt by what others say.”

“I’m NOT hurt!” Debbie insisted and Lou rolled her eyes fighting the increasing urge to strangle Debbie for her stupid stubbornness.

“Fine!” she relented, “You’re not hurt. If you’re so not hurt, then let’s go back inside where it’s warm.”

“No!”

Debbie was now gazing at her with a furious glint in her dark eyes and Lou took a deep measured breath to calm her swirling frustration. She loved Debbie, but sometimes the Ocean was freaking insufferable!

Not breaking their eye contact Lou asked very deliberately:

“What _do_ you want to do then?”

 

There was no immediate answer, instead Debbie once again turned, effectively breaking their eye contact. Slowly but surely Lou was losing the fight against her frustration with this conversation, a version of which they had far too often.

“Do you want to go home?” she tried.

“It’s not even 8 yet.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Fine! Yes! Okay! I want to go home! Can we just do that and you’ll leave me alone?” Debbie snapped and Lou bit her lip firmly to not throw back a remark she’d regret later. Instead she just turned on the spot and walked back inside leaving the sliding doors standing open for Debbie to follow her.

She picked up Debbie’s jacket and their bags from where they had left them in the hallway earlier and with relief noticed out of the corner of her eye that Debbie had followed her inside.

“I’ll start the car,” she called back to her and opened the front door making her way to the old Honda they had recently- _acquired_.

 

The motor was already running, the heating slowly coming up when Lou saw the dining room door open and Danny stepping into the hallway.

She of course couldn’t know what the siblings were talking about, but the conversation seemed to be more fruitful than Danny’s earlier attempt of talking to his sister. She could see Debbie reluctantly allowing herself to be hugged only to hold onto her brother tightly a moment later.

Lou shook her head. She really had to go fall in love with the most complicated, complex, conflicted person ever.

 

When Debbie sat down in the passenger seat and pulled the door close behind her she did so quietly and still refused to look at Lou. 

Debbie stayed quiet the entire hour long drive and she was still quiet when they entered their apartment. Lou shrugged off her jacket and shoes and after a trip to the bathroom and changing into some more comfortable clothes decided to make tea. The car’s heating had sufficiently warmed her up already but there was never not a good time for tea.

While putting on the kettle Lou observed Debbie who had curled up on the couch, still not having said a single word since they left her parents’ house. Lou sighed and poured boiling water into two mugs. Debbie was the most self-assured, strong-willed, incredibly intelligent person Lou knew. Frustratingly she was also the most stubborn person and had a list of family-related anxieties as long as the ingredient list of those horrific pop-tarts she insisted on eating.

 

Of course Lou knew how delicate an affair family was for Debbie. She had been absolutely oblivious to ‘what it means to be an Ocean’ when she’d met Debbie three years ago but was quickly taught that lesson. The Ocean’s were a family of New York criminals in the nth generation. Frank Ocean, patriarch extraordinaire, thus had high expectation for his children. Both Debbie and her older brother Danny had been brought up ‘helping’ in the family business. Frank Ocean was a master in the art of conning, Danny was at least as if not more brilliant than his father. And Debbie? Debbie most of all had an intense dislike for the way her father did things: unyielding, unapologetic and without regard for the lives of the people involved, while simultaneously having an intense need to be recognized for her own achievements. Which was exactly why in 9 out of 10 cases after a family meeting she ended up having some emotional breakdown over this exact dichotomy.

 

It drove Lou insane that, after three years, Debbie still refused to let herself be comforted. Lou knew she wanted it, needed it. Experience had taught her that after this initial refusal to talk Debbie would always break down eventually. And Lou had tried a different approach to this pretense of ‘I’m not hurt!’ every time and so far still failed. Debbie Ocean was a freaking nightmare when it came to expressing and dealing with difficult feelings. And Lou had thought she had problems in that department!

Still, Lou had very much fallen for this witty, sexy, stubborn brunette who right now was curled up in one corner of the couch, a blanket draped over her legs, clenching her jaws together so forcefully Lou could hear the occasional grinding of teeth.

Grabbing their mugs, she wandered intentionally casually from the kitchen to the couch, set the mugs down on the coffee table and put on the new Oasis record. The least Lou would do was not give in to Debbie’s brooding mood. She plopped down next to Debbie, reached for her tea and took a sip from it, letting the hot liquid warm her throat. Debbie remained still for a couple of more moments before eventually disentangling her limbs and reaching for her own cup with one hand and for Lou’s free one with the other.

 

A smile tugged at the corners of Lou’s lips as she let Debbie intertwine their fingers. _Every single time, you stubborn idiot_ \- she thought to herself.

They sipped their tea in continued silence and when the mugs were empty, Debbie shamelessly wriggled her way into Lou’s space, wrapping arms around her torso and burying her face at her neck.

Lou breathed in deeply Debbie’s unmistakable scent and ran her fingers gently over her girlfriend’s back and through her silky hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

 

“Do we have to do this every single time?” She asked carefully as she felt the tension bleed out of Debbie’s body and consequently felt her own muscles relax.

“What?” Debbie’s ignorance was feigned and they both knew it.

“Why won’t you just admit that it makes you feel like shit when he says things like that?”

“Because!”

Debbie had raised her voice somewhat but didn’t move from her spot at Lou’s shoulder. A sigh escaped Lou and she couldn’t keep the annoyance out of it which Debbie of course immediately picked up on and finally raised her head to gaze at Lou with tired and worryingly watery forestbrown eyes.

“I really don’t have the space of mind to psychoanalyze myself right now,” she stated a lot less edge to her voice than usual, “You’re the one who always says ‘family is the worst’ and you’re right, it is. It’s the worst and none of it makes any rational sense and neither do people’s reactions to it, so freaking cut me some slack and just- hold me, okay?”

 

Lou stared at her in disbelief until Debbie broke their eye contact by nestling her face back into the crook of her neck. She hadn’t expected that kind of reaction, hadn’t expected to be told off. Her immediate instinct was to defend herself and keep pushing. Debbie’s ridiculous pattern of pretending to be fine until she definitely wasn’t, simply wasn’t healthy. But instead of giving into that urge, Lou forced herself to pause and think for a moment. And when she did she had to admit that really, she wasn’t in any position to talk about healthy coping mechanisms to family drama. After all, hers had been to leave the continent from one day to the next without as much as a leaving a note. And Debbie had been patiently listening to all of her weird bouts of musing about how her family might be faring ever since. Who was she to judge Debbie’s reaction to her own family drama?

She held Debbie a little tighter. Still-

 

“I just- I hate to see you hurting” 

“I’d really love to have a family meeting that doesn’t make me want to cry, too, trust me,” Debbie's breath was warm on Lou’s neck and sent a wave of affection through Lou, “but I don’t think that’s gonna happen anytime soon.”

 

Lou tried to come up with an answer that wouldn’t sound like a demand but couldn’t and so they fell silent, merely curled into each other and reveling in the intimacy. Lou wanted to let it go- she really wanted to, but it just kept nagging at her mind.

 

“Lou?”

She almost jumped at the sudden interruption of her thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“I really do love my family.”

Debbie hadn’t moved an inch from her position at Lou’s neck when she spoke and so Lou looked down at her in her surprise.

“But they make you miserable!” she replied, running a hand through Debbie’s brown curls.

“Yeah- well. Family’s the worst,” Debbie raised her head and met Lou’s eyes, the tiniest somewhat lopsided smile on her lips, “But it’s also people willing to die for you. I don’t know about my father, I will probably never really know what goes on in that man’s head. But my mom, Danny, uncle Karl, even the cousins I hardly speak to- if something happened to me, no matter if during a job or just in general, they’d be there. They’d be fighting anyone who means me harm.”

 

Lou swallowed heavily, a sudden lump in her throat making that unexpectedly difficult as she horrifyingly felt tears welling up.

Debbie noticed, too and immediately sat up straight, brushing her fingers over Lou’s cheek.

“Lou, are you crying?”

Overwhelmed and not entirely trusting her voice, Lou forcefully shook her head although the first tear was already escaping. Debbie’s hand was back at her cheek immediately to wipe it away gently.

“What’s wrong? Talk to me!?” She demanded, worry written all over her face.

It actually made Lou snort out a sound somewhere close to a laugh at the irony.

“I’m fine”, she managed to get out and even got her shaking voice under control rather quickly, “it’s just- I’ve never had family like that.”

“Oh Lou! I didn’t mean to -“ Debbie’s features softened as she continued to gently stroked over Lou’s cheek.

“No, I know. It’s fine,” Lou assured and even managed a small smile, “though I do hope you see the irony in this.”

“Irony?”

“You shut down and snap at me when I ask why you’re upset and then you basically demand to know why I am.”

Lou ran a nervous hand through her hair while Debbie merely looked at her, contemplative but not angry.

“I guess you’re right,” she eventually said slowly and took a deep breath before her eyes re-focused on Lou’s, “I know you mean well but- I can’t just change. It’s- not that simple.”

“I know,” Lou replied softly and reached out to take one of Debbie’s hands again, “I won’t stop asking you though.”

It earned her a little smile.

“I wouldn’t want you to,” Debbie admitted, “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“I’m sorry for pushing. And- thank you. For telling me why you still love them.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She felt Debbie squeeze her hand tightly.

Lou’s heart skipped a beat at the warm, honest comfort in Debbie’s beautiful brown eyes. She breathed in deeply and then slowly nodded.

“Yeah. I’m- my family is different from yours and- I don’t love them like that. I don’t think I ever have.”

“You love your mom?” Debbie offered carefully, because of course she remembered all those evenings tangled up in bed, listening when Lou had cried for the family she lost and the one she wanted yet never had. Lou had to bite down hard on her lip to keep new tears from welling up.

“Yeah. But- it’s not that simple. She- everything that happened, she let it happen. And I can’t just-pass over that.”

She had to close her eyes for a moment against the flood of emotions but felt Debbie’s gaze firmly fixed on her and took comfort in that. When Debbie let go of her hand, Lou opened her eyes but in the next moment both of Debbie’s palms were at her cheeks and they fluttered shut again when warm lips were pressed to hers.

“I’ll be your family,” Debbie whispered when they parted and rested her foreheads against Lou’s. Lou swallowed against a new lump in her throat and merely nodded once before letting her eyes fall close again. Debbie pulled her into a warm embrace and Lou gratefully rested her head on her shoulder, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend’s back.

 

“You know- I think this time we didn’t even do half bad talking about how we feel,” she chuckled after a few moments when her breath came easier and the heavy feeling had somewhat lifted.

She felt Debbie chuckling too.

“Maybe in 20 years we’ll be really good at it.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Debbie pulled back and they locked eyes again.

“I love you, Debbie Ocean,” the words fell from Lou’s lips easily, the only thing in life she’d ever been sure of and the way Debbie’s whole face lit up at them made sure Lou would never get tired of saying them.

“I love you too, Lou. Even if I suck at this emotional honesty thing.” Debbie’s lips were curling into a grin but her eyes conveyed the truth of her words and Lou’s heart warmed at hearing them. Still, she couldn’t bite back the teasing: “That you do!” and got rewarded with a slap to the forearm.

“Don’t push it, Miller!” Debbie threatened, an entirely different sparkle in her eyes as she moved to slowly push Lou back into the couch pillows.

“Or what?”

Lou was answered by lips pressed firmly to hers quickly followed by teeth nibbling at her lower lip and as she eagerly returned the kiss, feeling a warm tongue asking for entry as the whole of Debbie's body was delightfully pressed against hers, the last remaining tension of their heavy topic effectively fell away to be replaced by a much more welcomed sort of the feeling.


End file.
